Introduction
Rainfall interception loss by canopies of forest-forming species is a
part of the losses of the forest water balance and, along with
evaporation losses from leaf surface area, determine the amount of
moisture flowing under deciduous canopies as well as the nature of soil
moisturization and estimated characteristics of flood runoff in small
watersheds of forest areas. There are neither common methods for
estimating the maximum rainfall capacity interception by deciduous
species, nor methods for estimating the spatial structure of these
losses. The published results of empirical studies express the value of
the maximum retention capacity depending on the leaf mass, which makes
it difficult to use these results in calculations of water balance
elements of forest areas. In fact, rainfall is intercepted and
evaporated by the leaf surfaces, and retention capacity can be estimated
correctly only if the relationships with leaf surface area of tree
stands are taken into account.
The research purpose is to make a spatial estimation of the maximum
rainfall retention capacity on tree canopies.
In this study, the authors have carried out empirical estimations of the
maximum moisture retention capacity of tree species per unit leaf
surface area, and have presented the result of cartographic
interpretation of the results obtained in calculating the maximum
moisture retention capacity within a forest watershed.